Philadelphia Flower Show

This weekend the Philadelphia Flower Show kicked off. The theme this year was “Holland, Flowering the World” so of course we had to visit. Not just because of the connection to The Netherlands, but also because it would be a great opportunity to do some photography again!

We were not disappointed. I had some challenges, because my flash batteries weren’t as charged as I thought they were (I think they worked for a total of 10 photos). So, most of these are shot in low-light conditions without the help of a flash.

I still think they came out quite nicely!

Before the show, we had a quick bite at Reading Terminal Market. I saw this clock, and loved how it looked. Decided to keep it dark and high-contrast, and black and white only.I have no idea what kind of flower this is, but I absolutely loved the shallow depth of field here.What would be more Dutch than a bicycle with tulips in its wicker basket? Not much, unless someone was riding it while eating a stroopwafel, perhaps!These beautiful flowers in the blue light just begged to be photographed.What a waste of perfectly good bicycles to trash them like this … but, in the end a pretty nice looking display!The Philadelphia Flower Show really hit all stereotypes here. Windmills, tulips, and playing traditional Dutch music.As you probably know, the Dutch national color is orange, and the Dutch national flower is a tulip. When you put them together? You get these beautiful flowers!These flowers were hanging from the ceiling from optical fiber wires. The color of the light kept changing, and I was able to catch it at just the right moment!There were fields of red, white, and blue tulips. After talking to the Dutch grower who put the display together, we found out that the blue tulips were just white tulips, dyed blue. He cared deeply about his tulips, and told us he dyed them “under duress.” So, I figured I should boycot taking pictures of the “fake” blue tulips.Dutch flag, Dutch barn, and a statue from a Vermeer painting. A bit much, perhaps. A beautiful display still!These bicycles were staged as if they were riding over a typical Dutch bridge. They had beautiful orange tulips in the baskets. The pedals were rotating as if a ghost rider was on the bikes!This display put a lot of Dutch objects together. We had a lot of fun picking out all of them!This was one of the few displays that had actual Dutch writing in it.This was one of the first displays in the show, and it hit you on all senses. Dutch music playing, Dutch scenery, and the smell of tulips and roses. It was wonderful!